World War Z

It’s the end of 2009, and journalists, critics, and news reporters are making lists. Here’s my own list of favorite books I read for the first time this year. Apparently this was my year to read dystopian fiction.

Top Five Fiction Books I Read This Year

5. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Very good young adult science fiction that discusses the ethical boundaries of science. I especially loved the experimental forms of prose and poetry Pearson used to illustrate Jenna’s state of mind. I reviewed it here.

4. The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld
Yes, I’m cheating, but these four books, Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras, are absolutely captivating. The first three explore what could happen if society’s obsession with beauty was taken to the extreme. The fourth novel in the series, Extras, describes a society built on social networking, blogging, and the paparazzi. I stole the series from a young friend of mine and had a hard time giving them back. I didn’t write a review because the series has been around for awhile, but I do recommend it with no reservations.

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
It was difficult to rank this one third. The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games rank equally in my head, but I chose to put it in third because I prefer third-person narration style over first-person. Yes, it actually came down to narrative style. I reviewed this book this morning, so it made the list just under the wire. You can read my full review here.

2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
I loved this book! The Maze Runner grabs onto you with the mystery of the maze and keeps you reading with the deeper mysteries of the characters and their histories. Dashner makes you hate the Maze creators, and by the end, you’ll demand an explanation for their crimes against the Gladers. You can read my full review here.

1. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
One of the few novels that makes me wax eloquent about its virtues. Brooks made me love the zombie genre, a feat I previously thought impossible. I reviewed it here.

“That book is way more awesome than any book by that title has a right to be.”- my friend Daniel, on World War Z

Daniel is right. This book is truly amazing. I don’t throw around terms like addictive, compelling, and emotional. World War Z is all three.

WWZ was inspired by The Good War by Studs Terkel, which is a collection of personal accounts from World War II. The novel reads like a non-fiction book, set up as a series of interviews with major and minor players in the conflict. It begins with the doctor who identified the first infection in China and discusses the radical changes that resulted from the various outbreaks throughout the world. Brooks details the experiences of government officials tasked with containing the problem, ordinary citizens who simply tried to escape, and profiteers who got rich off of fear and desperation. Brooks explores warfare and tactics, political issues, survival methods, and social upheaval. And yes, it’s about zombies. And yes, it is amazing.

Far from the typical zombie story, Brooks has crafted a biting social and political commentary that will make you cringe and laugh by turns. China refuses to acknowledge the plague, bleeding thousands of infected refugees from it’s borders. Americans remain steadfastly apathetic, putting faith in a fake vaccine until the problem is too big to be ignored. Israel locks its borders and shoots anything that moves outside the wall. Most of all, Brooks uses the novel to explore the concept of pure war, or war for its own sake. Whereas most wars end when one side meets their objective (i.e. empire-building, political revolution, unseating a dictator, etc.), a pure war will never end. Pure war is destruction and death without an objective. Brooks illustrates this concept chapter by chapter with the inexorable moan of zombies.

Though I highly recommend WWZ, I must do so with several qualifiers.

Make no mistake: this is a horror novel. War is ugly, especially against mindless monsters who exist purely to consume and destroy. Brooks does not skip over the worst bits of human nature (and zombie nature). One section of the story dealing with those who tried to escape the zombies above the snowline in Canada turned my stomach. I almost couldn’t make it through the chapter. There’s also quite a bit of language, but it depends on which interview you are reading (mercenaries and profiteers are the worst). In Brooks’ defense, I never felt that any of the language or violence was for shock value. The gory details are precisely what gives this novel it’s realism and emotional impact.

I loved World War Z, despite that I was sure I wouldn’t. Brooks has converted me to a fan of the zombie genre. It is not for the faint of heart, but those who can stomach it will come out on the other side amazed that it was just a novel.